Exploring the Nature of Good and Bad

In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Xochitl and Jack discuss the question: Do you think people are born good or bad?

Transcript:

00:00:01

Jack

Welcome to the A-Z English podcast, where Jack and Social take you on a journey from learning the basics to mastering the nuances of the English language. Our podcast is designed for non-native speakers who are looking to improve their English skills in a fun and interactive way. Each episode covers a wide range of topics.

00:00:23

Jack

From grammar and vocabulary to slang and culture to help you navigate the English speaking world with ease.

00:00:35

Jack

Welcome to the A to Z English podcast. My name is Jack and I am here with my co-host social. And today we have a quick chat episode and today's quick chat question is, do you believe that people are born?

00:00:48

Jack

Good or born bad?

00:00:52

Jack

Or do you think that?

00:00:54

Jack

It's different from person to person.

00:00:57

Jack

So. So. So what do you think about that? Do you think people are born good or born bad, like Hitler was born bad? Or Mother Teresa was born good?

00:01:10

Xochitl

Jack, I have a.

00:01:11

Xochitl

Hard time with this one because I'm a I'm a true crime enthusiast and.

00:01:16

발표자

Me too.

00:01:18

Xochitl

It's hard because there's people that.

00:01:21

Xochitl

In rare cases, there are situations where like there's no report of a traumatic childhood and stuff for certain psychopaths and serial killers.

00:01:31

Xochitl

And even then, there's usually.

00:01:32

Xochitl

A reason like a traumatic brain injury or something from an accident.

00:01:37

Xochitl

But I think most people are not born evil enough to be serial killers. And hmm and and people are complex. I think good is is very reductive for those listeners who don't know, that means it simplifies it too much. But I think it really depends on the person.

00:01:58

Xochitl

And their experiences and how they choose.

00:02:02

Xochitl

Ultimately, how they choose to process those experiences or what they choose to do.

00:02:09

Xochitl

With those experiences, cause I know that you can have someone who had really bad experiences and they might use those as an excuse and a justification to be abusive later, or to be.

00:02:23

Xochitl

To outlet their trauma in destructive ways. Or you could have someone who had the exact same experiences and chooses to grow from them and not subject anyone else to the kind of abuse or horrible situations they suffer.

00:02:37

발표자 4

Right, yeah.

00:02:40

Xochitl

But I don't think anyone.

00:02:41

Xochitl

Is all good or all bad? We've all done bad things.

00:02:46

Jack

Yes, yes, you're right, I.

00:02:49

Jack

Think I think we all have the capacity, the ability to to do good or to do bad.

00:02:56

Jack

But the question, yeah, this is a tough one because I'm just thinking of like again, I'm thinking of, like, serial killers and like the ones that that had, like, good parents. Like they weren't. They didn't have, like, a terrible.

00:03:13

Jack

You know, childhood or, you know, they had parents that were not terrible and and home lives that were not full of trauma. They weren't traumatic. And then they still wanted to act out in this way.

00:03:32

Jack

I feel like it's.

00:03:33

Jack

It's possible, but maybe it's a it's a lot smaller percentage of people than we think that our maybe just born bad.

00:03:43

Jack

They're just like they're they're missing something, but I think it I think for for the people to.

00:03:50

Jack

I think for for example, for a a a person to commit murder, there has to be a lot of different. There has to be like a lot.

00:04:00

Jack

Of factors taken in, it's like it's not just that they were born bad, but it's also that there was, you know, a bad environment when they were growing up and then.

00:04:11

Jack

Also, there was an opportunity for them to commit a crime, and so it's like it's kind of like a perfect storm.

00:04:22

Jack

When people commit really horrible crimes like like serial killers, I feel like something is has come together. It's not just that they were born bad, but it's just that like they're they, they have a lot of like a large capacity to do bad or maybe they even.

00:04:41

Jack

Have a a.

00:04:44

Jack

Compulsion like they want to do something bad and then an opportunity comes up and then also there's a bad they have bad parents. So like it's like a it's a combination of like all these bad things that makes them act out and so.

00:05:01

Jack

Like you said, it's people are complicated and it's it's hard to just say like ohh this person is born bad or this person.

00:05:08

Jack

Was born good.

00:05:10

Jack

But I do think that there is some.

00:05:14

Jack

In certain people, that allows them to to to behave really badly and and and and it's it's it's something that's just like hardwired in their brain like it's it's not.

00:05:29

Jack

I don't know. It's just it's just part of their who they are. Like it's part of their genetic makeup.

00:05:35

Xochitl

I think I remember. I don't know who the quote was from, but I was told that by some guy that he's a German guy and.

00:05:44

Xochitl

For those who are familiar with German culture, it seems really stereotypical that a German person said. But.

00:05:51

Xochitl

He said people aren't good or bad. They're better and they're worse.

00:05:58

Xochitl

And that doesn't.

00:06:01

Xochitl

I think, Jack, when I when.

00:06:02

Xochitl

I told Jack this a little bit before we.

00:06:03

Xochitl

Started the podcast.

00:06:05

Xochitl

It wasn't like a he interpreted it as like a thing of degrees. Right, Jack? You interpret it as, like, some people are better than others, and some people are worse than others.

00:06:14

Xochitl

But I personally interpret it like.

00:06:21

Xochitl

People in different times in their lives and in different situations can be better, and they can also be worse later and better again and worse later. It's kind of like who we are as people goes through waves.

00:06:36

Xochitl

And of course, there are people on extremes like serial killers and.

00:06:40

Xochitl

On good extremes, like Mother Teresa. And then there's us who, you know, we're probably not going to be as great as Mother Teresa, but we're not. We're no Jeffrey Dahmer.

00:06:54

Xochitl

Yeah. And so most people are somewhere on the spectrum.

00:06:58

Xochitl

Being a little better.

00:07:02

Xochitl

And a little worse all the time, but not crossing certain moral limits that I think we set for ourselves that are important to ourselves.

00:07:11

Jack

Yeah. Yeah, I think that's this is, I don't think we're going to be able to. I mean this is this question is probably will never be answered because this is the great philosophical question. Questions is are we born with a blank slate? You know the.

00:07:19

Xochitl

Right.

00:07:27

Jack

What is it called? Tabula rasa. Whatever you know, the, the, the kind of we're we're we're just pure when we're born and then all anything that any bad bad part of us is is imprinted from our you know parents and from our upbringing and our experiences or are we already kind of.

00:07:36

발표자 4

OK.

00:07:48

Jack

Is there already some uh personality that exists there and then our experiences and our environment kind of builds on those things? I mean, that's what I think. I think we're kind of we're kind of born with a certain with certain strengths and.

00:08:05

Jack

This is and then we can build on those in our environment and our our upbringing kind of informs that. And so it it, it can either enhance the good qualities or it can also a bad experience or traumatic childhood can enhance the the weaknesses and the bad parts of our personalities and so.

00:08:26

Jack

I I just think it's like a mix of of everything. You know, it's environment, it's nature and it's nurture.

00:08:31

Jack

And uh. But like you said, it's a you like where it's it really comes down to decisions that you make in certain moments. You know you you make the better decision or the worst decision and and it's and those build on each other so that if you make enough bad decisions in a row you can end up doing some really horrendous.

00:08:51

Jack

Things and I I think.

00:08:54

Jack

That's the the key is that.

00:08:55

Jack

There's all. We're always one decision away. One good decision away from kind of.

00:09:00

Jack

Being being good, I think.

00:09:02

Xochitl

Right, right. And one.

00:09:03

Jack

Yeah, yeah.

00:09:05

Xochitl

Bad decision. It's like crazy because.

00:09:09

Xochitl

You can make like 100 good decisions in your life and one really bad thing that you choose to do.

00:09:16

Xochitl

Can really hurt other people and it takes forever to make it back up to them or to make it back up to yourself, to where you feel like you've redeemed yourself and your situation.

00:09:28

Xochitl

So I think.

00:09:29

Xochitl

It is really important to take into consideration before we do hurtful things.

00:09:35

Jack

Yeah, I mean one.

00:09:36

Jack

Of the right now, there's a there's a famous actor named Russell Brand who's in a.

00:09:42

Jack

Lot of trouble.

00:09:43

Jack

A A potentially for alleged crimes against certain women and.

00:09:55

Jack

Again, it's it's alleged, but it's like he, you know, these are decisions that he.

00:10:03

Jack

Uh made ten years ago that our stood out. He's might have to pay the consequences for right now. And sometimes you make bad decisions and then you you become better.

00:10:10

Xochitl

Right.

00:10:16

Jack

And a better.

00:10:17

Jack

Person, but you still have to pay the.

00:10:20

Jack

For the consequences.

00:10:22

Jack

Of of your of your bad decisions.

00:10:24

Jack

In the past, so I mean it's so.

00:10:26

Jack

That it gets.

00:10:27

Jack

Very, very complicated, you know? Is this a bad person or is this a person that was was bad? But now is good and?

00:10:36

Jack

Yeah, yeah.

00:10:36

Xochitl

I think if you were.

00:10:38

Xochitl

Bad. And now you're good then part of.

00:10:42

Xochitl

Actually being good now and actually being a better person, especially in like me too cases and cases where you have like victims who are affected is actually taking full accountability and responsibility though, and paying up for all the things that you did. And I think if you really become a better person, then you need to be open to facing the consequences.

00:11:03

Xochitl

You know for your behavior.

00:11:05

Jack

Yeah, that's a good. That's a really good point. That's a really good point. UM, yeah, even. Uh, yeah, I think you're right. If you if you're a person of integrity and you really are a better person, then you will. You will tell the truth and say I did this and that ten years ago and you'll. Yeah.

00:11:25

Jack

And and then you can actually I.

00:11:27

Jack

Think redeem yourself, but if you're still lying about something.

00:11:32

Jack

That happened in the past and not then. Then you really haven't changed that much. Yeah, that's a great point.

00:11:42

Xochitl

All right. Well, let us know what.

00:11:43

Xochitl

You think in e-mail?

00:11:44

Xochitl

At A to.

00:11:45

Xochitl

Z.englishpodcast@gmail.com, we've a comment down below at our website at ozenglishpodcast.com.

00:11:53

Xochitl

And join our WhatsApp group and we will see you.

00:11:55

Xochitl

Guys, next time.

00:11:57

발표자 4

Alright. Bye bye bye.

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